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There’s a good chance that this past week has been the busiest of Pat Newins’ four years at Misericordia University.
He was at Villanova’s pro day on Monday, he had to complete school work early over the weekend. Then Newins, who’s a nursing student, had his clinical at Geisinger Health System on Tuesday. After that, he went right to take a make-up test because he was leaving for New York that night to attend Fordham’s pro day on Wednesday.
Needless to say, there’s no senioritis for the Cougars punter this semester.
“It’s almost like I’ve been in the car on the road more than I’ve been in my apartment,” Newins said. “I see all my friends going out every weekend and everything, and I’m sitting there, ‘I have a pro day Monday. Can’t be doing that. I have to get to bed.’
“I’ve been a little bit out of the loop, but it’s OK. It’s worth it for what I’m trying to achieve here.”
But after making good headway with scouts from the Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets and Detroit Lions during both pro days, the hectic stretch has been productive. Newins secured an invite to a closed workout hosted by the Jets next Thursday, where general manager Mike Maccagnan and coaches are expected to be present.
Newins did all of his testing Monday, but because of rain at the Villanova campus, he wasn’t able to punt. Scouts from the Colts and Jets helped get him into the Fordham pro day two days later.
“Honestly it’s been crazy,” Newins said of his week. “Going in Monday I figured I’d give it my best and see what happens, and then coming into (Wednesday), this was almost nuts because they’re asking me to come back to specifically watch me kick.
“It went well — and I’m not happy that it’s over with, because it was exciting stuff — but now I can take a little break.”
Even though he had to adjust his class schedule at Misericordia to fit in the second pro day, taking the three-hour trip to Fordham was a blessing in disguise for Newins.
The senior could just focus on his punting at the Fordham pro day, instead of having to waste his energy running.
Newins was clocked with a low 4.8-second 40 and had a “pretty solid time” in the L-drill. He also improved on his 225-pound bench Wednesday, recording 12 reps after only getting 11 at Villanova.
“I was very relaxed, very mellowed going into pretty much everything I did (Wednesday), besides the kicks,” Newins said. “Even with that I thought I was pretty relaxed because I knew most of the guys already who were going to be watching.”
While he wishes he could have improved slightly on his kicks, Newins was happy with how Wednesday’s session at Fordham went. He excelled during the pooch punts segment, kicking all of his punts inside the 10-yard line, with two landing inside the five.
“When we were warming of course our warm-up kicks were great and the scouts noticed that too. When we were talking afterward, one was like, ‘I noticed you were bombing them in warm-ups, so you just have to stay relaxed like that when you’re kicking here,’ ” Newins said. “I think I handled it pretty well because I knew the people from two days before and it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, the spotlight’s on me.’ ”
As the NFL Draft nears, Newins says the key for him is to keep in contact with each of the teams — especially the Colts and Jets, who have shown the most interest. He plans to send them film from when he kicks over the next month, so they can see whether or not he’s improving. The scouts also plan to check out his game film on the game footage database Hudl.
This week was about proving that even though he’s been playing the sport for a short time and he comes from a Division III school, Newins has what it takes to succeed in the NFL. Now that he’s made an impression on possible suitors, he’s looking forward to trying to secure a rookie mini-camp invite this spring.